A global company, Trane's international headquarters are in Piscataway, New Jersey. Trane employs more than 29,000 people at 104 manufacturing locations in 28 countries, and has annual sales of more than $8 billion. In addition to its activity in HVAC systems, Trane is involved in energy conservation and renewable energy projects.

In 1885, James Trane, a Norwegian immigrant from Tromsø, opened his own plumbing and pipe-fitting shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He designed a new type of low-pressure steam heating system, Trane vapor heating. Reuben Trane, James' son, earned a mechanical engineering degree (B. S. 1910) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and joined his father's plumbing firm.[1] In 1913, James and Reuben incorporated The Trane Company. It was Reuben's invention of the convector radiator in 1923 that firmly established the company's reputation as an innovator, a reputation Trane people have been building on ever since.[2]

By 1916, the Tranes were no longer in the plumbing business, but rather were focusing their attention on manufacturing heating products. Reuben conceived the idea of the first convector radiator in 1925 which replaced the heavy, bulky, cast-iron radiators that prevailed at the time. Trane's first air conditioning unit was developed in 1931.

In 1982, Trane purchased General Electric's Central Air Conditioning Division. With that purchase came many of the most recognizable traits of Trane's residential air conditioning products. Many of those traits, like the distinctive red "Climatuff" compressors, the "Spine-Fin" all aluminum spiny outdoor coil and the all aluminum evaporator coil, are still found in Trane's current residential equipment lines.[3]

In 1984, Trane was acquired by American Standard Inc., and became a fixture in the American Standard Companies business. Following a leveraged buyout in 1988, American Standard returned as a publicly held corporation in 1995.[4]

On February 1, 2007, American Standard Companies announced it would break up its three divisions. The company sold off its namesake kitchen and bath division and spun off WABCO, American Standard's vehicle controls division, while retaining The Trane Company. American Standard then renamed itself Trane Inc. effective November 28, 2007.[5][6]

On July 2, 2011, a Trane project manager and three employees from O-Ryun Engineering died while servicing HVAC equipment at an E-Mart store in Seoul, South Korea. This included one college student from the University of Seoul.[15] The family of the deceased claimed that either one or both of E-Mart and Trane had responsibility for the tragedy,[16] and that E-Mart refuses to meet with them to settle the matter. Trane has agreed to cooperate with authorities and investigators and is conducting its own investigation to determine if safety practices need to be revised. Trane has said it acts in accordance with the law.[17]